In recent years, there has been a proliferation of video editing applications. These applications allow a user to create video presentations by combining one or more video and audio tracks, and applying one or more video and/or audio effects to these tracks. Speed effects are one type of effects that are commonly employed by video editing applications. Speed effects allow a user to specify different speeds for playing different sections of the presentation. For instance, by using speed effects, an editor can divide a video presentation into three parts, where the first part plays at twice its created rate (e.g., at 60 frames per second (fps) for a content rate of 30 fps), the second part plays at half its created rate (e.g., at 15 fps for a content rate of 30 fps), and the third part plays at 3 times its content rate (e.g., at 90 fps for a content rate of 30 fps).
Applying speed effects with prior video editing applications is often difficult and time consuming. Specifically, prior video editing applications do not apply speed effects to presentations in real-time. For instance, each time a user (also referred to below as an editor) specifies a new set of speed effects, some prior editing applications render a new media file with the speed effect. This rendering is quite time consuming. Also, if the editor is not happy with the rendered results, the editor would have to re-specify the speed effects, and re-render the media file once again. In addition, while the user is specifying new speed effects, this editing application does not provide adequate feedback regarding the frames on which the speed effects are being defined.
Therefore, there is a need for a method that can apply speed effects to a presentation and display the results of this application in real-time. Ideally, this method can apply the speed effects and display the results without having to render the presentation. Furthermore, ideally, this method would use an intuitive interface that allows the editor to easily specify speed effects and to discern the result of these effects.